Julius Neubronner, born in Germany in 1852, was the son of Wilhelm Neubronner. Wilhelm carried on the family-run pharmacy and had
introduced rapid medicine delivery by way of carrier pigeon (Google books). Julius continued the family practice, including pigeon-delivery. As a young boy, Julius was interested in the then-newly invented cameras, and his hobby and his career merged when a once-punctual pigeon took was waylaid a month. Interested to find the source of the delay,
Julius placed a miniature camera on the pigeon to see where it went. The effort was successful, and he improved upon the design,
patenting a panoramic pigeon-carried camera that resulted in
novel photos. Julius is also distinguished as an early German experimenter in amateur silent film.
His recordings, including
daily life,
historic events, and
film magic, were
restored in 1996 (Google Quickview; original PDF).
posted by filthy light thief
on Jan 9, 2012 -
15 comments
Step 1: Compose your post to MetaFilter: Description: An inspirational Holiday Tale from
Peter Watts.
Step 2: Justify using the words "inspirational", "holiday", and "Peter Watts" in the same sentence: I'm grading on a curve.
Step 3: Do you want to warn us about any pictures? Yes, I'm warning you. (Remember
last time?) Seriously, some animal lovers may want to skip this.
posted by maudlin
on Jan 6, 2012 -
18 comments
Open air sports stadiums often have issues with
birds,
insects, and other wildlife. Common preventative measures include
ultrasonic devices and bird
netting. But Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium - one of the venues for the 2010 World Cup - has taken an all-natural approach. It is working with the Urban Raptor Project to install
raptors, bats, and owls to
patrol the stadium for various pests, while a
trained peregrine falcon chases away crows. This is not a new technique -
Millennium Stadium in Wales has long used a
Harris Hawk for bird control. But according to the NMB stadium manager, it "is the only stadium with a programme like this in place as a pest deterrent".
posted by gemmy
on May 31, 2010 -
12 comments
Pigeon: Impossible is the tale of Walter, a rookie secret agent faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what to do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase.
posted by netbros
on May 24, 2010 -
18 comments